


How Branch found his Bunker

by Crazydaydreamerz



Category: Trolls (2016)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-25
Updated: 2020-04-25
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:47:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23841001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crazydaydreamerz/pseuds/Crazydaydreamerz
Summary: I always wondered how did Branch go from young troll to recluse living in a bunker?  This was an attempt I made to figure that out.
Relationships: Branch/Poppy (Trolls)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 25





	How Branch found his Bunker

**Author's Note:**

> I started this work years ago, and abandoned it when I realized I didn't have the stomach to deal with haters on a fan fiction I had written. After Trolls World Tour, I decided to restart this one. 
> 
> I'm leaving it here as a one shot, hoping that it makes sense, but if you have additional thoughts on where the plot should go, leave me a message and I may add on to it!

The trolls were rushing out of the troll tree, down the root tunnels to freedom. King Peppy was hurrying everyone along, and noticed that a few were struggling to keep moving. He placed Poppy in his hair and rushed to the back of the group, helping everyone along as best he could, shouting encouragement.  
One of the groups that was struggling was a group of younglings with the troll that was responsible for caring for the orphans. Peppy took one of the younglings, a sad grey one, and tucked him into his hair with Poppy. King Peppy gathered everyone else up on his shoulders, and carried them all to safety. Everyone made it to safety because of his determination, and his rallying cry of “No Troll left behind!”  
Baby Poppy didn’t know who this little grey Troll was, but “No Troll left behind” was her cry as well, and she gave the little grey Troll a hug. He was scared and unsure and he was very still while the little pink one was hugging him, but he didn’t push her off. He didn’t know what to do. He didn’t know where they were going, he didn’t have anyone left who loved him, and there were so many orphans. He didn’t feel hopeful. He felt scared.

*** A Few Years Later ****  
The new Troll village was coming along nicely. More and more pods were being built, and the Trolls were figuring out how to survive in the forest. Penny, the Troll in charge of the orphans, often took the kids out for walks, teaching them how to gather food and adapt to their new environment. On this day, the kids needed to help gather building supplies to build the last of the pods.  
“Come along, trollings! We need to find some nice, long, flexible sticks. Something like willow branches! Do you remember where we saw willow branches? And soft moss, and some vines, as well. Let’s head on down towards the creek! Be watchful of the dangerous flowers!” Penny was using her loud, teacher voice, and most of the trollings dutifully followed her. Branch lagged behind the group, his eyes watchfully on his surroundings, his ears attune for danger.  
Most of the orphans were fairly disinterested in learning how to gather building supplies, but they all liked gathering berries and nuts and seeds for everyone. Sometimes they went with the all the village children, but often, the village children had to be working at home to help with the pod construction for their families. The orphans, however, stayed in an already built communal pod, and the best way to help everyone was to learn how to gather supplies.  
Branch was good at this. He was still grey, and still a loner, but he would go out almost every day to gather supplies. He also was the best troll at camouflage. He could blend in the best, and practiced walking on silent feet through the forest. He learned quickly which plants had the best food, and which ones were dangerous. It was amazing how many dangerous plants and animals there were in the forest. It seemed like everything wanted to eat you. Which didn’t help Branch feel safe and secure.  
When the group got to the creek, they quickly spotted the willow tree and a few of the older trollings climbed up to help cut down long flexible branches. Others found a nice supply of moss near the base of the tree, and Branch found a nice, long vine that was in good shape. While they were working, King Peppy and little Poppy walked up to the group. 

Peppy cleared his throat, and projected his voice to the group. “Thank you, trollings, for helping us with this last pod. This last pod is going to be the largest we’ve built yet. It’s going to be for Poppy and myself, but also for all of the trolls that are in need. I’m sure you know that building a pod is very personal, because we utilize our hair to create the exterior of the pod. Poppy and I are a small family, though, and I’m responsible for all of you. No Troll left behind! But I want you to always be able to come to me. Now, you’ve done a great job gathering the base structural materials for the pod. Let’s work together to carry it to the construction site.”  
Little Poppy saw Branch struggling to carry his load. The vine was large and unwieldy for the young troll, even though he was bigger than she was. She bounced up to his side, and grabbed some of the vine.  
“Hi! I remember you! What’s your name?” she asked.  
“Branch. And I don’t need your help. I can do this myself.” Branch grumbled. He hoisted the vine over his shoulder, struggling with it and with Poppy’s help.  
“Yeah, I know! But I want to help! You’re helping to build my new pod! There’s going to be a special area that’s just going to be for me! I’m going to have a slumber party when it’s all done! All my friends are going to be there! Suki, Cooper, Guy Diamond, Biggie…”  
“Are you always so loud and annoying?”  
“Do you always have to be so mean?”  
“I’m not being mean. I just don’t like making so much noise. It might attract something that we don’t want to come our way.” Branch’s voice was still very gruff.  
“What do you mean?” Poppy’s eyes were growing wide.  
“Haven’t you heard about the Bergens, pipsqueak?” Branch softened his voice a little, seeing as how he was scaring the little troll.  
“Oh, them? Daddy got us away from them and got us all to this safe space! We haven’t seen a Bergen in 5 years! They won’t find us!” Poppy cheered up. She wasn’t scared of Bergens.  
“They might if we’re loud and draw attention to ourselves!”  
Poppy was quiet while she considered what he said. Branch, surprised that there wasn’t a quick retort, spun around quickly to look at her, and knocked her down. Tears sprung up in Poppy’s eyes, and Branch felt bad for hurting her. He handed her his hand to help her up.  
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you.” He said.  
“I’m ok. Thank you for helping me up.” She responded, quietly.  
They went the rest of the way back to the troll tree in relative silence. Every so often, Poppy would start to quietly sing to herself, but it seemed that once she started to get caught up in the lyric, she’d stop herself. Branch was grateful for the quiet, but sad that he had diminished her cheerfulness. It wasn’t a nice thing for him to do.  
Peppy gathered the trollings around the base of the tree, where they were going to build the pod. “Everyone, thank you for all of your hard work. First, we must build the structure of the pod. We’ll lay out the willow branches out radially and then bind them with the moss fibers. Then we’ll bend them up to make a large sphere. Afterwards, we’ll use our hair to create the outside and then the vine will be used to hoist the pod into the tree. Any questions? No? Let’s get started!”  
Penny and Peppy organized the trollings and the supplies, and everyone got to work. It didn’t take long to create the initial structure, and soon everyone was ready to grow their hair and then cut it. The hair would be matted together into a fun structure, and then bound with tree sap into a felted wall panel.  
“Let’s work in teams!” Penny shouted. “To grow your hair, you concentrate really hard on what you want to do, then you cut it with scissors at the length you need.”  
“Can I be on your team, Branch?” Poppy quietly asked.  
“Sure, kid.” Branch replied.  
They grew out their hair, cut it, and began felting the hair into the panel. Branch let Poppy do the design. He was sure he’d just mess it up. She made a pretty design with pink flowers and black stars. His face had a slight smile on it as he looked at it, and Poppy beamed up at him as she finished the design.  
“This panel is going to go on my room of the pod. Thank you for helping me Branch!” Poppy was so proud of the work they’d done. Branch could see it in her face.  
“Yeah, whatever.” He tried to shrug off her cheeriness. She jumped up and gave him a big hug. He froze up. No one hugged him at the orphanage, mostly because he had yelled at them all and they all just left him alone now. Poppy didn’t notice.  
“Soon I can have my first sleepover! I’m gonna invite all my friends!” Poppy was positively giddy.  
“Don’t invite me!” Branch exclaimed.  
“Why wouldn’t I? Aren’t you my friend now?” Poppy was confused.  
“Parties are loud and they’ll attract attention and I don’t want to be eaten.”  
“Oh.” Poppy’s face fell. Once again, Branch felt guilty that he’d crushed her spirits. What was it with this little girl that just seemed to get under his skin? She was so frustrating.  
Peppy finished applying all the panels to the branch structure. Now it was time to hoist the pod up to the tree. “Ok, everyone!” He shouted. “On three, we pull as hard as we can. One, two, three!” The pod slowly lifted into the air and Peppy tied it off when the pod was at the right elevation. Penny shuffled the orphans back to the orphanage.  
Poppy looked sadly after Branch. “Daddy, why is that trolling so grey and grumpy?”  
Peppy sighed. “He suffered a great loss, and he’s lost all his happiness.”  
“But there’s happiness inside of all of us! Isn’t that right, Daddy?” Poppy looked up hopefully at her father.  
“Perhaps, Poppy, perhaps.”

*** A Few More Years Later ****

Branch was tired of living at the orphanage. No one really cared about him. They were all too busy taking care of themselves. And singing. And oh my goodness, the dancing. Really, did they have to be so loud and huggy and dancey all the time. He needed to find his own place. Someplace safe. The only problem was, he didn’t know where exactly that would be.  
Branch gathered some supplies in a backpack and decided to set out to find a good place to build his bunker. He wanted it to be someplace strong. Maybe a cave, or something underground. Something where he could maybe feel a little safe. He certainly didn’t feel safe in the troll village. Everyone was always singing. It just never stopped. They were lucky so far that no Bergens had found them. They certainly weren’t being stealthy.  
As he was leaving the village, Poppy spotted him and bounced up to him.  
“Branch, Branch! Whatcha doing? Where you going? Can I come with you? Are we having an adventure?” Poppy was going to kill him with her exuberance.  
“Could I stop you?” Branch had long ago realized that Poppy never took no for an answer. She was pretty annoying, that way. But deep down, he was grateful that at least someone cared about him.  
“No, not really. Are we going to hunt for pirate’s treasure? Or rescue a princess?”  
“Poppy, you are a princess. And no. I’m looking for my own place. Someplace away from you bait.” Branch said.  
“Did you just call all the trolls bait? Bait for what? A Bergen? Branch, you know they aren’t going to find us!”  
“They’re not going to find me, that’s for sure. Fine. If you’re coming, stay behind me and try to be quiet.” Branch grumbled.  
Branch walked swiftly from the village into the woods. He scanned around looking for holes, overhangs, small caves, or even depressions. Behind him bopped Poppy, skipping and humming little songs.  
Poppy saw some lovely flowers, and she stopped to take a sniff and admire their soft petals and sweet scent. She turned to Branch, but he was already very far away. She looked back at the village, wondering if she should follow Branch or just go back home, where her friends were and who would probably be willing to play some fun games or sing or at least do something fun. But she looked at the grey troll as he quickly walked away from her, and she just knew that he needed something. She didn’t really know what he needed, but he couldn’t just go off on his own. He might never come back. Looking quickly and sadly back at the village, she plucked a few flowers and tucked them in her hair, and then ran after Branch.  
He heard her crashing through the underbrush after him. He gave a sigh, but ignored her and kept on going.  
She followed quietly behind him for a while, but then she got bored. She started to hum.  
Branch’s hackles started to rise. Gah, she was so annoying? Why was she always following him like a little lost puppy? Didn’t she have something better to do? He grimaced as her volume started to rise.  
Turning around quickly to face Poppy, he snapped “Poppy! Do you want to be eaten? You’re so loud! A bird could pick you up, a spider or any number of predators that are just looking for a snack! And we Trolls are delicious! Can you just be quiet?” Branch grumbled.  
“But this is sooooo boring, Branch. What are you looking for? Can I help?” Poppy whined.  
“I don’t know what I’m looking for. But I’ll know it when I see it.” muttered Branch.  
Poppy followed along for a while longer, struggling so hard to keep the joy that was bubbling from deep inside her contained. The day was so beautiful. The flowers were so bright and colorful, the cute little bugs hummed a happy tune. That cloud over there looked kind of like a butterfly. This grass was so soft on her feet. She tried to be calm and quiet, but she really wanted to just burst out into song, give expression to all this beauty and joy around her and inside of her.  
Oh, this torment wasn’t worth it. It was a beautiful day, and she just wanted to enjoy it. She started to sing.  
Branch whirled around. “Poppy! Gah, if you can’t control yourself, can you just go back to the village?” He snarled.  
Poppy looked heartbroken. Branch felt bad that he had yelled at her, but she was so annoying. She was going to get him eaten. Or attract the Bergens.  
She started to cry. Branch looked flustered, but he didn’t know what to do. “Shh, shh! Don’t cry! Just go back home!”  
Poppy turned and fled, tears blinding her eyes. She got a few meters away before she stumbled over an exposed root and then disappeared from sight. Branch’s eyes got wide, as he watched her disappear. “Poppy!” he shouted! What had happened to her? Was it a hill monster? He rushed after her, desperate to see what had happened. If anything happened to the beloved troll princess, he’d be ostracized for sure. No one would want him around. Poppy and Peppy were some of the few trolls who even tolerated him.  
He almost fell into the hole that Poppy had fallen down into. He circled his arms trying to regain his balance before he tumbled down after her. He took a deep breath, and then looked down into the hole. He mentally prepared him self for seeing Poppy’s broken little pink body, but he called out with a concerned voice “Poppy? Are you OK?”  
A quiet voice floated back up “Branch? Yeah, I’m OK.”  
“Does anything hurt?”  
“No, I don’t think so. It looks like there’s a bit of a cavern down here.” Poppy called up.  
“Hold on, Poppy, I’m going to look for a vine or a stick.” Branch looked around. There was a long vine over to the left, and he grabbed it and tested it’s strength. It seemed strong enough. There was a tree not too far away- he rushed over to the trunk and tied off the vine. He strode quickly back to the hole, spooling out the vine as he went.  
“Watch out, Poppy! I’m throwing a vine down!” he shouted down into the hole.  
“Branch, it’s amazing down here. Can you come down?” Poppy asked.  
“Yeah, I’m almost ready to rappel down. Watch out!”  
Branch rappelled down into the hole on the vine. When he got to the floor of the small cavern, he was amazed.  
This was the perfect start to a good bunker! The cavern wasn’t very large, but it was the perfect size for one small grey troll, and the soil looked like it could be easily excavated for further build outs. He could feel himself getting a bit excited. “Poppy, I think you found it! You found my new home!”  
Poppy smiled up at Branch. “Ha, Branch, I guess you did rescue a Princess after all.”  
Branch smirked at Poppy. “Yeah, I guess I did. Sorry that I made you cry.” He looked bashfully at his feet.  
Poppy snaked her hand into his. “I’m OK, Branch. I think I understand how you felt. It must be hard to be scared all of the time. But we really are safe.”  
Branch looked up at her. “We don’t know that, Poppy. But thanks to you, I think I’ll feel a little safer now, living here in this cave. Anyways, I think we need to get you back home. You’re a little scuffed up.”  
Poppy looked down at her dress. It was covered in dirt, and Branch could see the how the tears streaming down her face a few minutes ago mixed with the dirt that covered her face, too. She was a mess.  
“Can you use your hair to get up or do you want to use this vine?” Branch asked.  
“I think I can use my hair.” she said timidly.  
She grabbed the vine, and then she reached up with her hair as high as she could go, using it to pull herself up. Once she got to the top of the hole, she looked down at Branch. “Yep! I rocked that!”  
Branch launched himself back up out of the small cave and marked its location on a map. He had a lot to do to make it into a home, but his anxiety eased slightly. One thing off the list of “to do”s.  
He looked at Poppy. “Let’s get you back home.”  
And he didn’t mind it at all that she sang and skipped the entire way back.


End file.
